More buses to be added over Songkran

More buses are being deployed to serve people returning to their homes upcountry during the Songkran Holiday, the president of the government's Transport Company said on Friday.

Wuthichart Kalyanamitra said the number of passengers is expected to peak today at 212,000 persons so the firm would deploy as many as 2,000 buses and vans to facilitate travelling during the festival, which gets underway on Sunday.

He said that from today through April 13 and again from pril 1517, more buses and vans will be added, bringing the current trips up to 7,000 from the current 5,000 to serve a maximum number of travellers.

Transport Company has asked for cooperation from traffic police in the capital to help direct traffic at Bangkok's three bus terminals as well as asking taxi companies to send sufficient numbers of drivers to pick up passengers.

Wuthichart added that related agencies are cooperating to prevent road accidents and changing routes so that doubledecker buses do not to run on steep slopes for greater safety.

He asked travellers to allow sufficient time to arrive at bus terminals before their departure.